TPC San Antonio welcomed 144 players to the 2025 Valero Texas Open on Thursday.
PGA golfers Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Åberg and Maverick McNealy managed to post similar scores. Whether relying on their short game or playing aggressively from the tee, all three players carded five or more birdies during their first round to move up the leaderboard.
The Southport native hammered a drive down the right side of the fairway, leaving a clear shot to the green. Fleetwood’s 15 years of experience gave him the confidence to escape a watery hazard area on the right side of the green on hole 18, landing his ensuing shot to the right of the pin, which secured a safe par.
The opening hole for Fleetwood’s group was on a narrow par-4 fairway with bunkers surrounding the green. Fleetwood landed his ball on the right side of the fairway — 164 yards away from the pin. His second shot found its way in front of a bunker, so Fleetwood maneuvered to chip on the green.
“Today felt good, [I] chipped well, could have been a couple better, could have been a couple worse,” Fleetwood said. “I think 4 under out there is a good score.”
McNealy — who is currently tied with Fleetwood — slowly moved his way up the leaderboard with an impressive short game that helped him get out of troublesome situations. His hole-one drive went in the right rough area alongside the cart path leaving 202 yards to the pin. Setting up an aggressive line toward the hole, McNealy positioned himself closer to the green but only to the left bunker. This was the moment where his strong short-game came into play, as he was able to successfully remove himself out of the bunker.
Although he recorded a bogey on the first hole, he recovered with a birdie on the second, bringing him back to even-par. McNealy took the lead over Fleetwood with a left-to-right putt on hole 15. If he keeps playing like he did today, McNealy could take home his second PGA tour win.
Åberg is a beast on the tee-box, outdriving both pairing partners which includes defending champion Akshay Bhatia and Maverick McNealy. He is also smooth with hitting greens in regulations.
“I think obviously [you] need to keep the ball in front of you off the tee,” Åberg said. “Once you start to miss a little bit it can be a little penalizing. You get some of these greens when they get baked and fast and some wind coming down in the afternoon can make it a little challenging.”
On hole 1, Åberg reached the left side of the fairway with a 298-yard drive — 19 more yards than Bhatia and 32 more yards than McNealy. With his long drive capability and the length of the front nine of TPC, he will continue to rise on the leaderboard. In par-4 holes such as number one he was able to hit on the green in two.
Round 2 of the Valero Texas Open will tee off at 7:20 a.m. Friday at TPC San Antonio.
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